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The sack landed with a thump, the two yetis right behind it.

"He's here!" North said, hushing Tooth and her fairies as Jack pushed the sack open to peer outside.

"Quiet. Hey! There he is! Jack Frost!" North boomed as Jack peered out of the sack up at him.

"Wow, you've got to be kidding me." Jack felt a shiver go through him. Pitch had warned him about the Guardians and he knew each of their names and what they were capable of thanks to his partner. Pushing away his fear, he pushed himself out of the sack only to find himself lifted out by the yetis.

"Hey, hey put me down." He said with a calm he didn't actually feel. They did just that, he tried to act as nonchalant as possible.

"Hope the yetis treated you well."

"Oh, yeah, I love being shoved in a sack and tossed through a magic portal." He said sarcastically as he kicked his staff back into his hand.

"Oh, good. That was my idea." North said happily, obviously missing the sarcasm. How thick was this guy? Jack wondered, sizing up his enemies though they didn't seem about to attack. So why was he here then?

"You know Bunny, obviously." North said.

"Obviously." Jack repeated, his eyes settling on the Pooka who was leaning against a nearby pillar.

"And the Tooth Fairy." Tooth swooped down towards Jack before North could go on.

"Hello Jack, I've heard a lot about you and your teeth!"

"My- my what?" Jack stammered.

"Open up! Are they really as white as they say?" Before he could protest she'd shoved her fingers into his mouth.

"Yes!" She gasped, turning to her fairies.

"Oh, they really do sparkle like freshly fallen snow!" She exclaimed, making Jack wonder if she was mental for a moment as her fairies "aww'd" over this fact.

"Girls! Pull yourselfs together, let's not disgrace the uniform." She said much like a military leader all of the sudden and flew back to where she'd been moments earlier, her fairies following.

"And Sandman." North continued as if Tooth hadn't interjected.

"Sandy?" He asked, nudging the Guardian beside him who was asleep on his feet.

"Sandy? Wake up!"

"Hey, ho, anyone want to tell me why I'm here?" Jack asked, keeping his distance from them even as he glanced from the Tooth Fairy to the other Guardians. They'd been nothing but friendly, well except for Bunny but then again he wasn't exactly on good terms with the Pooka anyway since his first blizzard... and while that had been an accident it had rubbed the rabbit the wrong way and Jack hadn't managed to get the Pooka to accept his apology no matter what he'd said or tried. He glanced to Sandy, watching several images pop up above the little man's hands as he waved them about; obviously trying to talk to Jack but he hadn't the slightest clue what the other was trying to say.

"Uh, that's not really helping, but thanks little man." The symbols had flashed too quickly for him to follow and hadn't made too much sense to him, though he figured the snowflake he'd caught at first might have meant him... the rest didn't make any sense at all. He turned away from the group, swinging his staff to freeze an elf who was bringing a plate of cookies as he spoke.

"I must've done something really bad to get you four together." He swung around suddenly, a slight smirk on his face as it occurred to him to ask suddenly.

"Am I on the naughty list?" Was that what this was about?

"Ha! On naughty list? You hold record." North replied, pointing for emphasis before going on.

"No matter now, we are wiping clean the slate." He said, brushing his fingers against the tattoo on his arm that said "naughty" on it.

"How come?" Jack asked, rather surprised at this as he watched the Guardians closely.

"How come? I tell you how come, because now you are Guardian!" Jack wasn't sure what surprised him more, North's sudden announcement or the music that instantly flared up loudly along with banners with "G" on them that hung from the rafters, yetis put on a performance with flaming sticks and Jack had to duck away from a couple of fairies who had tried to put some sort of colorful snowflake necklace around his head. He'd ducked as the yetis behind him had skillfully wielded the sticks that were on fire at both ends. Was the jolly Guardian trying to MELT him?!

"This the best part!" North proclaimed as he marched in time with the music happily laughing. Jack backed up as far as he could as the yetis continued to advance with their fiery sticks as the music continued. Jack was sure if they got too much closer he was going to put that fire out himself. The elves seemed to march about in odd patterns as they played various instruments and two scurried up to him with a pair of shoes, one elf pointed at his feet meaningfully then at the blue elf-like shoes with a "G" on them. Jack just glared at him in return. There was no way he was putting those on! North cleared his throat, getting Jack's attention, a yeti had brought him a large book which he opened and flipped through its pages, but Jack was fed up with this. He raised his staff, slamming it down and releasing a cold blast that put out the fires, frost spread out from beneath it along the floor and several elves were sent skidding across the floor as if they were on ice. The music abruptly stopped, everyone was looking at him in surprise.

"What makes you think I want to be a Guardian?" He asked, narrowing his eyes a little. North just laughed, glancing at the others who didn't seem to share his amusement before his laughter died and he was looking at Jack again.

"Of course you do. Music!" He said and the music began again.

"No music!" Jack said firmly and it died again.

"This is all very flattering, but you don't want me." Jack replied, twirling his staff. As if he expected they might attack him or something, but they didn't even seem to take a step forward let alone look like they were ready for a fight. Still, he kept himself on edge just in case.

"You're all hard work and deadlines, and I'm snowballs and fun times." He said, leaning a little on his staff suddenly. His expression serious as he spoke the next words.

"I'm not a Guardian." He never would be, he didn't really want to be either from what Pitch had told him, though he was really surprised they'd bothered to offer.

"Yeah. That's exactly what I said." Bunny spoke up.

"Jack," Tooth said as she flew over to him to look him in the eye as she hovered before him, he leaned away from her, not wanting a repeat of earlier.

"I don't think you understand what it is we do. Each of those lights is a child." She said, her attention on the globe behind him, causing him to turn to look at it. He didn't notice that North had also closed the distance, picking up where Tooth left off.

"A child who believes, and good or bad, naughty or nice, we protect them." Jack let out an "ack" sound and North added.

"Tooth, fingers out of mouth." Tooth seemed a little ashamed at being caught as she withdrew her fingers.

"Oh, sorry, they're beautiful." Tooth said as she moved away from him.

"Enough wishy washy, Pitch is out there doing who knows what!"

"You mean the Boogeyman?" Jack asked.

"Yes! When he threatens us, he threatens them as well!" North said, motioning to the globe. Jack rolled his eyes suddenly as he moved away from them.

"And you've been doing such a good job all of these years?" The Guardians exchanged puzzled looks. He turned, a smile on his features that sent uneasy feelings into the four who were watching him.

"Look, what you do is fine and all but it's not for me. You should pick someone else."

"Pick? You think we pick? No, you were chosen! By Man in Moon." North said and Jack jolted suddenly, staring up at the moon in disbelief.

"Man in Moon... he talks to you?" He couldn't keep the disbelief from his tone.

"You see? You cannot say no, is destiny." Jack ran a hand through his hair then laughed, bitterly.

"After 300 years this is his answer?" He stared up at the moon, the others surprised by the hatred that suddenly flared in his eyes.

"Well you're too late! I'm not going to just become a Guardian just because you say so after all this time! I'm not some puppet!" He glanced over at the others, the hatred vanished, replaced by a neutral look.

"No offense." Bunny stared in shock, his jaw dropping a moment before he sputtered.

"How... how is that not offensive?!" Before he could say more though, Jack was twirling his staff.

"Look, as much as an honor you might think this all is... I don't belong here. I'm not one of you. I'm different."

"Jack-" Tooth began but he turned sharply, cutting her off.

"No! I'm through with the moon. I don't care what he has to say. He didn't care enough to talk to me when I tried talking to him and now all of the sudden I'm supposed to just be at his beck and call? Forget it! Maybe you four are content with that, but I'm not! I'm going to make something of my life and it's going to be my choice! I'm out of here." He took off into the air and zoomed out the skylight that let in the moonlight.

"Great... so what do we do now?" Bunny asked. He had been against Jack joining them from the start, but he wasn't too put off that Jack had rejected them, but even so they were all apprehensive. Pitch was up to something and they had to protect Jack from him before it was too late, unaware that it already was.

"What?!" Tooth asked when a fairy chattered something at her. Tooth stared at the others.

"My palace is under attack!" She said before zooming off with her fairies to go defend her home. North led the other three to the sleigh to travel to the palace. Bunny hated the ride immensely, but North hadn't really given him a choice. Bunny's claws had left streaks where he'd tried to hang on fruitlessly in the sleigh through the whole outrageous ride. It was only made worse when North sent them flying through a portal. The scene that greeted them shocked the trio, Nightmares ran through the skies, chasing down little tooth fairies and gobbling them up. North handed the reins to Sandy.

"Take over!" He brandished his swords as Sandy directed the sleigh towards the palace in the mountain and North cut down any of the Nightmares that came close. He freed a few of the fairies only to have them be captured again by another Nightmare. Sandy directed the sleigh into the palace and North struck down another Nightmare, several golden canisters clattering to the floor of the sleigh.

"They're stealing the teeth!" Bunny exclaimed. Sandy landed the sleigh on the largest platform he could see.

"Tooth are you alright!" North called as he saw Tooth darting about.

"They... took my fairies... and the teeth." She said, fluttering over to where they were before settling down sadly.

"Everything is gone... everything."

Jack had left to return to Burgess as the Guardians raced to try and help Tooth defend her home. He had little doubt that when Pitch finally began to put his plan into motion that the Guardians would do as Pitch had said they would. They'd all race to the Tooth's Palace to try and defend the little fairies and the teeth from Pitch's Nightmares. He twirled his staff as he balanced himself along the fence that enclosed the front yard of the Bennett house. How he'd envied the boy who lived inside, how he'd had a family when Jack had nothing... no one had seen him or bothered to speak to him even if they could. The other spirits had all but ignored him, well... all but one... A soft smile graced his lips. Wouldn't the so-called-Guardians freak if they'd ever discovered that Jack had thrown his lot in with him of all spirits on this planet? Well, they would find out soon enough. Pitch Black, the dreaded Boogeyman, the King of Nightmares... wasn't what everyone thought of him. Oh he didn't enjoy the things Pitch did, but he understood it, in fact he had even helped the Boogeyman with a few and that was the only reason why he had believers. He wasn't exactly feared, but he wasn't well liked either. No one liked the cold, Pitch had said as much and Jack knew from experience that it was true. Humans hated being too cold or too hot and with winter came his cold; what was comfortable to him was far from that to any human so why would anyone ever enjoy his season? He sat down on the fence, peering up at the stars as they began to softly twinkle in the sky. The moon cast its soft light like always, but Jack just scowled at the moon. He hated the moon with a passion. What sort of being would give someone like him life and then just up and abandon him? It wasn't fair! It wasn't right! Pitch had known that and had said as much. Pitch understood him and thinking of the shade made a soft smile tug at the boy's lips. He felt a little startled though when the thought of those golden amber eyes made something else stir in him; a feeling he hadn't felt before. He pushed it aside, he admired Pitch, that was all. The other had suffered thousands of years of isolation with nothing but his Fearlings and Nightmares as company. Creatures that didn't really speak, but only did as he willed. Jack had been lonely for 300 years, but how much more lonely had Pitch been? He shook his head a little, his gaze hardening with anger as it fell on the moon once more. Rage boiling just beneath the surface.

"You understand nothing! About me... about Pitch... we're outcasts because of YOU! How DARE you try and manipulate me after all you've put me through! After all you took from me!" The teen raged, his anger overflowing and he spent a good half hour venting his hatred and anger at the moon, who was - as always - silent through the tirade. Jack couldn't care less what the Moon thought. What the Moon had decided. This was Jack's life, his choice and no stuck up, self-important, silent being was going to tell him what he was going to do with the immortality he'd been cursed with!